Gabriel Hugs?
by sierra.steinbrecher
Summary: Imagine God's angels as hyper, happy teenagers. Let's see how the rest of the world deals with this.
1. Annunciation

"Greetings, you who are highly favored!" I turned around to see who it was and suddenly, this teenaged boy had his arms around me and was squeezing. What on earth? What kind of greeting was this? A perfect stranger just walks up and hugs me? And what was that about favor? Please don't let him be talking about a Roman captain or something. I didn't want to know what happened to girls who won their favor.

Finally the guy backed up and just smiled at me. This was beginning to freak me out. "Do not be afraid Mary." Okay, how did this guy know my name? "You have found favor with God." I took a step back before he could hug me again. His words registered in my head and a grin broke out on my face. Do not be afraid was right. This was the best thing she could have asked for! God had been watching her, just like she'd always hoped! Wait. Did that mean the man in front of her was one of God's messengers? She looked him over.

He wore a long white tunic with a brown sash, but his hair wasn't dark like mine. Blond curls spilled over his warm brown eyes, crinkled up in his smile. He looked Roman at first glance, with that hair, so I guess my earlier fears made sense. But did he come down from heaven just to tell me God liked me?

Apparently not, as the man continued, grinning broadly. "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." He grabbed my hands in his and pulled me closer so I was staring into his brown eyes. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob; his kingdom will never end." He put his hand over my middle and then hugged me tight again. My mind was running faster than a Roman chariot. Son of the Most High? Did he mean what I thought he meant?

I had heard stories of the Messiah all my life, and how God had promised to give us a savior as early as the fall of the first man and woman. Zechariah had taught our whole family the stories, and the prophesies about the one to come were his favorite subject. How could I conceive such a child? I didn't even have a husband yet.

"How can this be," I murmured into the angel's tunic, "since I am still a virgin?"

The angel drew back and looked at me again before gently kissing me on the forehead, still not completely letting go of me. It felt a little like a big brother was holding me. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." He whispered into my ear, sounding giddy at the prospect of it. "So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

Okay, I had not been expecting that. I pushed him away and wanted to shout, I'm going to have God's baby?! I am not ready for this! Let me have a kid or two first, then I'll be experienced! But the angel just smiled some more and grabbed both my hands again. He bent down so he was looking up at me and continued. Was he under orders to keep me from talking or something? "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

Elizabeth? A woman old enough to be my grandmother? But then I caught onto another part of that statement. This was going to be her first child too. God had given her a husband to help her, and Zachariah would have the time of his life teaching the kid.

I thought about Joseph, my betrothed. I'd seen him with other children from the village, and they adored him. If he accepted the boy, the Son of God –man, that still seemed a little too amazing to be real- I would have the best man possible to help raise my son. If he didn't…well, God would take care of me. He was practically marrying me, after all.

"I am the Lord's servant," I answered. "May it be to me as you have said." The angel let out a long breath I didn't know he'd been holding. He gave me one last squeeze and suddenly, I was the only one left in the room. Well, me and the baby.

Luke 1:28-38

**The language is exactly the same as the scripture. I wrote this because, in all the depictions I've seen of this scene from Luke, Gabriel just kind of stands there and talks. But what if he was more touchy-feely? And what went through Mary's head while he was talking?**


	2. Nativity

Angels crowded around the small wooden structure, waiting for news from inside. This was, after all, the biggest thing since their creation. No one wanted to miss this. Arabella came out of the stable, staring at the ground. Gabriel rushed up to her and asked, "Well?" It couldn't be good if she couldn't look at him. Had something happened to Mary, or Jesus?

Arabella looked up at him and a wide smile lit up her whole face and the air around her. Angels tended to do that when they were happy. Gabriel started glowing as well. "Woohooooo!" He rocketed into the air and left a trail of happy sparks through the sky. It had worked! Jesus was really here! Oh, there was no way he was keeping this news to himself.

He landed right on the cold coals of the shepherds' campfire. They scrambled back, trying to get away from this guy. But the second they turned around, Gabriel grabbed the backs of their tunics and pulled them back. "Hold your camels! You haven't heard me out yet!" He yanked them back onto the other side of the dying fire and onto their butts. They started crawling backwards in fright.

"You don't have to be scared! I've got good news!" The men stopped trying to get away and gave the stranger a closer look. Confident that they would now listen, Gabriel continued. "I've got news for the whole world! You're not going to believe this!" The shepherds took their hands off the ground and rose into sitting positions.

"Okay," Gabriel muttered as he calmed himself down. "You see that?" he pointed at the lights in the distance. "That's Bethlehem." The shepherds nodded hesitantly. Did this guy think they needed directions or something? "And Christ the Lord was just born there."

The shepherds reeled back for a moment and then started muttering to each other. "Christ? What's this guy talking about?"

"Do you think he got lost?"

"Just who is he anyway?"

A huge light burst from the sky and stopped the whispering dead in its tracks. "Right on time," Gabriel chuckled with a smile on his face. He turned back to the group of skeptics. "If you don't believe me, go and look. He'll be all wrapped up in a blanket and lying in a feed trough. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it."

The star's light was suddenly not alone in the sky as several other angels rocketed down into the midst of the shepherds, grabbed them by the hands, and began dancing around. Whoops filled the clearing as the angels let loose with "Glory to God in the highest!"

The shepherds lost all fear and began rejoicing with the glowing, exuberant teenagers. "Yes, glory to God!" they answered, along with shouts of "Praise Him!" and "Please put me down now."

The angels blasted off one by one, returning to the scene of joy at the stable. But they left whispered goodbyes and "Peace to you and everyone else God loves here" in their wake.

The shepherds followed the many streams of sparks through the sky and saw the small structure where they all seemed to end. They exchanged looks and started running for the apex of the dozens of arcs in the skies.


End file.
